North Korea reportedly opens its first website to the outside world

On the eve of the secretive country’s 65th anniversary, North Korea has reportedly launched its first website to the outside world.

IDG News says that one of the 1,024 IP addresses that North Korea has had registered for some time has come online with a news website. The report did not provide a link to the new website.

Also, international reporters in Pyongyang to cover the anniversary also apparently have full access to social media websites, including Facebook, Twitter and Skype (thought that of course could just be a courtesy). The access was set up in a press room in a hotel and goes far beyond what reporters normally have to access to – phones and email from designated computers. Of course, North Korea now famously has a Twitter account (and 13 friends as well, including Twitpic).

“Frequent monitoring of the addresses by IDG News Service repeatedly failed to turn up any use of them until now,” said the report on ComputerWorld, also pointing out that the connection to the outside would is being made though China Netcom, which makes sense, as North Korea – though its leaders generally get their Internet access via satellite – has hard-lines that stretch over the border to neighboring China. Also of course, China is one of the only countries in the world that has more or less regular relations with communist North Korea.